Eat More... Lose Weight?

I recently accepted a part-time job to cover a dietitian position while on maternity leave.

This job has been very eye-opening for me, as well as a shift in what I do with my eating disorder recovery work that I so love.

At this part-time job I get to encourage people to eat more to lose weight.

For most people, this is mind-blowing. We have always been told that if you want to lose weight, you need to go into a calorie deficit (restrict/reduce food) and exercise a ton - to the point of it hurting.

When I first started in this new role, I thought it was cool (and crazy) that people were being told to eat more to lose weight. I have focused so much on eating more to gain weight and practicing intuitive eating that I forgot about the simple science of what the body does when it is starved: It hangs onto food and stores it as fat for later (follow me on ​Instagram​ and ​Facebook​ to find out why).

The first few clients I tried to convince to eat more to lose weight were quite challenging.

Initially, they looked at me like I had horns growing out of my head. I could see their facial expressions change as we talked.

They would move from skeptical to, “I don’t trust this woman at all.” They told me that at their last card game with friends, another woman’s nutritionist said she needed to eat less, and my client would say “Mine told me to eat more.” They would all laugh.

I actually said, “Try eating every 3-4 hours. With each meal and snack, find a balance of protein, carbohydrates, and a healthy fat.”

Most people aren’t eating often enough or consuming a balance of nutrition.

Do you ever notice when you are really hungry, all bets are off, and you want high-sugar or high-carb foods? That makes sense. Sugar will enter the bloodstream quickly, whereas protein takes longer to digest and become energy. So when we are hungry or tired, the body will crave instant energy (sugar).

What if you tried eating every 3-4 hours for the next 2 days? Post a comment below and let me know how it went and what barriers got in your way.

If you need help in trying to figure out what's best to eat during those two days, ​schedule a free call with me​.

Your body knows what it needs, and you can trust it. You can learn how to trust your body's hunger cues to get off the endless cycle of dieting.

This ebook, 3 Ways to Get Out of the Endless Cycle of Dieting Shame and Body Blame, shares ways for you to get out of the endless cycle of dieting, body shaming and blame.

Click here to get your copy of 3 Ways to Get Out of the Endless Cycle of Dieting Shame and Body Blame!